Meditation tips for beginners

Meditation tips for beginners

We’re quite sure that you know how meditation has many benefits for your health. It’s one of the best ways to relax after a long and stressful day at work. It’s one of the best ways to silence the negative thoughts and get rid of some nasty habits.

But how to do it and how to do it right? Now that’s a challenge!

For many people meditation itself doesn’t sound appealing at all, it’s just another thing you don’t have the time or will to do. But it’s very important to make it a part of your lifestyle. It’s just as important as a physical exercise, in fact, this is an exercise for your mind. When these two are combined together they can do miracles for your overall health.

People meditate for a wide range of reasons, whether to improve their health(great for stress, anxiety, irritability) or creativity, help visualize their goals, quiet their inner chatter, etc. Sometimes it is just that very basic need to spend a few minutes every day alone. Being present in your body without worrying about everything you have to do. Whatever these reasons may be, try not to over-complicate and simply relax and leave all your worries behind.

I know, I know, if you knew how to do that you wouldn’t be here in a first place. Well as in most things in life, practice makes it perfect. Here are some best meditation tips for beginners…

Top five meditation tips for beginners:

1. Take it slowly

Realistically, there are only a small amount of people who will be willing to meditate on a regular basis. In order to overcome these obstacles, the approach is to do a formal daily practice of meditation (such as the walking meditation) for an initial period. We could say very simplified introduction and then start slowly incorporating meditation into your everyday lifestyle. Walking, for instance, helps people concentrate and reduces distraction, a meditation that involves walking can be a great place to start. Also, the good way to start for example can be paying attention to the sensations of a few breaths each time you switch tasks. Or by just being present and focused at the moment (mindfulness). Take these small steps first, before you start to practice meditation on the everyday basis.

2. Find your comfort zone

Choose your time and surroundings very carefully, especially when you’re just starting out. It’s important to clear your environment of distracting sensations. Turn off the TV and radio, and find a quiet space where you can focus on meditation. Choose a time when you’re comfortable. For instance, if you’re a beginner, you may find it hard to concentrate at first. When you’re starting out, meditate when you already feel relaxed. Maybe that’s the first thing in the morning, or after you’ve had to unwind after work. When you’re more familiar with meditation, you might use it to calm you down when you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

3. Experiment with time and techniques

Most beginners started meditating just for few minutes, like 3-5 minutes. That’s just fine especially if you’ve just started. Even few minutes can feel like ages when you first start meditating. For example, paying attention to the sensations of taking few breaths can be a big challenge. Trying to maintain your focus and being present in the moment can also be very difficult. Don’t be too hard on yourself. All beginners experience the inner chatter. In fact, some would say that this continual return to the present moment is the core essence of meditation. You can try the different combination, for instance, walking meditation with few minutes of open awareness.

This means you allow anything you can observe and sense to rise up into your awareness. Don’t go looking for things to hear, see, feel etc. Just let whatever rises up into your awareness to do that and be naturally replaced by something else whenever that happens. During the open awareness portion, if your attention drifts to past, future or evaluative thoughts, briefly go back to one of the points of focus to stabilize your attention.

Meditation is a great way to increase your resilience to stress. If you have anxiety, it will help reduce your general tendency towards physiological over-arousal and calm your nervous system. Don’t expect your meditation practice to change your life overnight. Meditation takes a time to master and to experience. Keep coming back to it every day for at least a few minutes, lengthening your sessions when possible.

4. Breathe carefully

The power of your breath is very important. Deep breathing techniques can help you relax in just a few minutes. There are more and more scientific proofs of this. So, focus on your breathing. This is what meditation’s all about. Instead of trying not to think about the things that might stress you out focus on your breath. By focusing all of your concentrating on your inhalations and exhalations, you’ll find that all other thoughts from the outside world fall away on their own. You should both inhale and exhale through your nose when meditating. Make sure your jaw muscles are relaxed. Try not to think about the breathing with your mind – just experience it through your senses.

5. Guided Meditations

Guided meditations are also a good start for any beginner. There is a vast number of this kind of meditations available online. Also, a lot of them are available as mobile apps and are a very good starting point for anyone who wants to learn a practice of meditation.